Sorsogon LGU probes drop in whale shark sightings

DONSOL, Sorsogon, Philippines – The municipal government is trying to find out whether stress, warm climate, food and pollution at the Donsol River could have caused a drop in whale shark sightings.

Donsol, dubbed as the whale shark capital of the world, is a critical component of Albay-Sorsogon-Masbate tourism alliance.

With fewer whale shark sightings, the town’s eco-tourism industry, which started in 1997, is under threat.

Alan Amanse of the Butanding Interaction Office said there were eight sightings in December 2012. But it dropped to three in January this year.

Donsol Councilor Rey Aquino expressed alarm over the decline in whale shark sightings even as he promised to find out why.

He said one of these could be the presence of E. coli bacteria in the river due to toilets and piggeries. He said there is also a drop in plankton, which is the source of food for the whale sharks and high phosphate levels in the river, which he said might be due to a cement plant in Barangay Palanog in Camalig, Albay.

Whale shark sightings start between November and June, and usually peak between February and May.

The drop in the sightings of butanding also resulted in the decline in the number of local and foreign tourists coming to this town.

Amabe dela Cruz, Donsol tourism revenue collector, said their revenue collection dropped from P4 million from January to May 2012 to P2 million for the same period this year.

Amanse said the whale sharks could have been stressed out with the 60 motorboats deployed daily for the two-hour interaction with tourists.

“Maybe there’s a need to program the number of boats for the two-hour interaction period,” he said.